Sword Art Online: The Chronicles of John Smith
by Thrashertags
Summary: John Smith (a.k.a. Slasher) is caught up in the nightmare that is Sword Art Online...how will he fare in this death game?
1. Chapter 1: Epilogue

"Link Start"

Those two words started a new chapter in my life that day. From then on, for over two years, I had dropped the name John Smith, and became the katana wielder "Slasher."

I should start from the beginning, I had moved to Japan in early 2022 to work for the Japanese branch of a construction company I had worked for back home. They told me that it was a fairly new branch, so there wouldn't be much competition for job placement for a while.

With a guaranteed spot for transfer, I decided to take it. After arriving, I was listening to a popular stream online called MMO Stream. It had been out for a while, but this was the first time I got interested about this product. The "Nerve Gear." When I heard of the new VRMMORPG, that was to be released in October of this year, I got out and bought the Nerve Gear to get myself used to being in the "Full Dive."

Waiting three days outside the gaming store was nothing, it was the anxiety that I wouldn't be able to get the game that had me shaking. But the long days had passed, and finally, I had gotten my copy of Sword Art Online (SAO). I had asked for a week off from work just to play this game for a few days before getting back to work. Little did I know, that one week would suddenly become two years...


	2. Chapter 2: The New Ally

**Chapter 1**

After logging into Sword Art Online for the first time, I decided to head out into the fields for a few hours to train. I don't really get along with any other people, and to me, there are two types of people. People I work with, and people I don't know, so I decided to train in the fields solo.

After a couple hours of killing wolves and boars, I had decided to log out. I flicked my right hand down to bring up the menu to log out. After searching a couple minutes, I couldn't find the log out button. Confused, I looked around to ask anyone else that was around me about this. All of a sudden, a blue light enveloped me. I had read in the manual about the blue light, it meant it was a teleportation crystal.

I didn't know where it was taking me; I had no choice but to allow it to bring me to the destination. Before I knew it, I was back in the Starting City's central square. I looked around and noticed everyone else was teleported as well. Wondering what was going on, I heard someone say that there was something in the sky. I looked up and saw a red system announcement message blinking. By the time everyone had noticed, it had quickly expanded to fill the sky. Everything around us had turned a bloody shade of red, and some liquid had started dripping down. It had finally formed a glob in the shape of a robe; there was no face under the hood, only eternal blackness.

I heard some people around me asking what was going on and if that was a GM. After a few seconds, the robed figure raised its right hand as if to silence everyone. It then said in a low rumbling voice, "Welcome to my world. I am called Kayaba Akihiko, and I am the only one in control of this world."

Somehow, I was able to keep my composure as this man was talking about us players being imprisoned in this virtual castle. He had also told us if our families or friends tried to force off the Nerve Gear, our brains would be fried to a crisp. "By now, two hundred and thirteen players have lost their lives because of family and friends. Just remember, if your HP hits zero, there is no way to revive you, in both this world, and the real world. If you look in your inventories, you will notice I have given you a gift. Treasure it well." I flicked my right hand in a downwards motion and checked my inventory.

In it was a small hand mirror. I tapped the item name and it appeared in the air before me. I slowly reached out and grabbed it, thinking something would happen right when I touched it. I was surprised when there was no reaction. I again looked around and saw many other people had taken out the mirror.

Suddenly, a bright white light surrounded me. Just as quickly as it had come, the light vanished. I looked in the mirror again and found that my face had changed to how I look in the real world.

"What? But…how?" Everyone in the town square was stunned. In games, we try to make our appearances different from how we look in real life. That being said, most of the female population of Aincrad had disappeared, replaced with male characters.

After a few minutes of confusion, Kayaba starts speaking again. "Why am I, the creator of both the Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online, doing all this? Am I a terrorist? Am I holding you for ransom? No! I am doing this because I want to watch the progress this world makes and intervene in it. How many of you make it, are up to your skills and luck."

With that, Kayaba's body starts to dissolve before our eyes. After disappearing, the whole crowd erupted into a panicked yell. Looking around, I notice a young black-haired boy talking to an older red-haired man. After a little while, the boy hesitantly left the man behind. Wanting to ask him where he was going, I tried to follow him. I was lost within the first five minutes of following him.

Finding my way out of the city by pure luck, I decide to hunt a bit more before the other players come to their senses. After fifteen minutes, I notice other players heading out of the city. Knowing other players will start hunting out here as well, and because I generally try to avoid being in a large crowd, I start heading to the second town.

"Oh great, stuck in a forest, with nothing to eat, and monsters appearing every now and then. On top of that, I'm starting to talk to myself. How much longer can I take this? I don't know. But if I don't see another person soon, I probably will start going crazy." I start complaining to myself.

Before I can continue my thoughts, a wasp like monster pops out at me again. "And here's another monster, just go away will you?" I say, taking out my initial sword. The wasp charged towards me, I take my stance and my sword lights up. I let my body relax as the Sword Skill takes over my body. I used the beginner Sword Skill Vertical, which, as the name suggests, is just a vertical strike.

The wasps' body shatters into little pieces, and I get a message saying I leveled up. "Oh hey, something new." I tap the "O.K." button and allocate the new points into the skills of my choice. I put most of the points into the "One Hand Sword," along with the rest of the points into "Searching," as there are only two skill slots available to a level one player.

After I finished, I noticed there was another person in this forest other then I. "Show yourself! Or face the wrath of my sword!" Of course, I wasn't serious, I just felt like saying something random.

Out of the darkness came a small woman, looking to be just about a year younger than I. She had on a purple shirt with a pair of pants. Covering her was a green robe that helped hide her face from strangers and help her blend into the forest. She was roughly 5'6", with jet black hair and hazel eyes.

Had I not upgraded my "Searching" skill, I would not have sensed her presence. "How long have you been following me?" I ask, uncertain of what else to say.

"Since the fields outside the Town of Beginnings." Came her short reply. I try to see her face to see if she was lying, but I detected no trace of deception.

"Oh well, if you mean no harm, then, by all means, why don't you join me?" Going against what I usually do, I invite her to party up with me. Not knowing how she'll take it, I hope for the best.

She silently nods her head. I bring up the menu and issue a party invite to her, which she accepts. "My name is Slasher, pleased to meet your acquaintance." I say, bowing my head a bit.

"Alice." Another short reply. Oh well, I'll get her to talk more one of these days.

After a while, we reached the next town, we try to find an inn. After searching a few minutes, we couldn't find any trace of one, so we opt to try out an NPC house.

We check the nearest house to us, and a woman has her back towards us. When she hears the door open and close, she turns and says "Ah, journeying swordsmen, welcome. You must be tired, but all I can offer is a cup of water." Not really expecting anything, I nod my head and accept her offer.

After handing me a cup, she heads back to her kitchen in front of her stove. I notice a pot boiling with something. After a few seconds, a question mark pops up, indicating a quest. "Is something wrong?" I ask the woman, after hearing a child's cough.

After seeing her shoulders slump a bit, she started off by saying her child was sick. After about ten minutes of backstory, we were finally sent on our way. To complete the quest, we each had to find a monster called a "Little Nepent," but we couldn't find any random one, we had to find one with a flower growing out of its head. After a little bit of searching, we found one. It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. I stop, gesturing to Alice to stop as well.

"If we switch out after every few hits, we can take it down easily." I whisper to Alice, explaining to plan. All I got for a reply was a silent nod. After a few more seconds, I start running out to attack. I start preparing the Sword Skill "Vertical" just as it senses I'm there.

I yell out as the Skill takes over my body, my sword slashes the top of the head of the Little Nepent. I get in a couple more slashes in before I decide to switch out. "Alice, switch!" I yell out. As I'm backing away, Alice runs right in with "Diagonal," a skill that starts from either the top left of top right, depending on what hand you strike with, and ends on the opposite side on the bottom. She gets in more strikes before switching. "Switch!" I hear her yell and get in a "Horizontal." After two more hits it finally decided to attack. It had started inflating its pitcher of a head in preparation. Not knowing what was going to happen, I run straight at it without switching and prepare a "Vertical." As I'm getting closer to it, it spits out a pale green fluid and hit me. I tried to pay no heed to it and continue my attack. After the Skill hit, it had awkwardly stopped, and after a few seconds, it burst into tiny little pieces.

"Yeah, we got him!" I yell out in triumph.

"It's not that big of a deal you know. It's a pretty common enemy. More importantly, are you okay? You got hit didn't you?" Hmm, Alice seems a bit worried about me. Maybe I should try and bug her about it?

"I'm not hurt, but if you want, you can treat my wounds." I smile playfully. Right after I said that, I feel her hit me.

"You idiot, if you were really hurt, would you try to make me laugh?" I smile even wider.

"Of course, I wouldn't want a party member to worry over me. As long as you're happy, I'm happy." I explain. "Now let's continue our search." Alice nods and we head off deeper into the forest.

A/N

Well, it's finally out, the first actual chapter of Sword Art Online: The Chronicles of John Smith. If you have any critiques, or if you want to add party members to Slasher's party, you can either message me or leave a comment on this chapter. I will be starting the next chapter tomorrow and it will hopefully be up soon.

Thrasher


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome to Santa Rosa!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of its characters. I only own my own characters.**

Authors Note: I am full of empty promises aren't I? I said I would get this chapter out a week after the last one, it has now been quite a few months since. Oh well, I'll hopefully get started on the next chapter soon, but I have no idea when it will be out. Also, I am writing up two different stories as well, one is based off of my group's DnD campaign, and the other is a Pokemon fanfic. Those should be out soon. Till next time, have a good read.

-Thrasher

**Chapter Two**

"How many more of these things do we have to kill?" Alice was grumbling beside me.

"As much as we need to…just think of it this way Alice, the more we kill, the more we level up." I say with a slight smile. After a couple more minutes, I see another cursor a bit in the distance. Like many of the others, it is a dark shade of red, meaning it was a couple of levels higher then I was. Not that it was a problem though; it wasn't that hard of a monster to kill.

"You want the first strike?" I ask Alice.

"Leave it to me." Alice muttered, taking out her Initial sword. After readying up one of her sword skills, she lunged forward as the skill did most of the work.

In no time at all, we had gotten the Nepent down to less than a quarter of its health. After I finished my last attack, I motioned to Alice to switch. "You should get the last hit, so you will get anything it drops." I remind her, not that she really needs reminding. She knew it too, so just before she dealt the finishing blow, she looked at me like I was an idiot or something.

"I already know how this game works." I swear, I can feel the air getting colder around her.

"Oh hey, we leveled up." I said, as I pressed the okay button. It seems we both got a new skill slot. I allocated some of the new points into the slot under "One Handed Curved Blade."

"You finished yet? I want to get this quest done soon. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's starting to get lighter out."

"What? You didn't get a new skill slot?"

"I've already allocated the points into what I want. And before you ask; my new skill slot is 'One Handed Dagger.'" She said flatly.

"Daggers? You plan on being a rogue?"

Another icy look. By the time this quest is over, I wouldn't be surprised if I were a popsicle. "Well then, shall we head off?"

Even before I finished asking that, Alice was already walking away.

"Okay then." I smile.

After more hours of aimlessly walking around the forest, we come across another Little Nepent. This one was different however, as it had a sphere over its head. "Hey Alice, look at that." I point out this new variation. "What do you think?"

"As long as it's dead, I'm fine." Alice was taking out her sword as she said that.

"Hold on a second. We shouldn't rush…" I turn to look at Alice. Well, I tried to anyway, before I could say anymore, she was already gone. The next second I hear a deafening sound. "Ah shit, here we go."

The sphere above the Little Nepent burst and a cloud of greenish-yellow gas burst out. Not even five seconds after, there were more cries of the Little Nepents. "Alice, we have to go! Now!" I grab her hand, but it was too late. We were already swarmed by the time we turned around.

"Tch." I take out my sword and get into stance as one of the monsters had come closer to us. Before I could start my strike, I had noticed that quite a few of the Little Nepents had disappeared. "Did you do that?" I ask Alice, who looked at me with confusion. "Guess not."

"Haaa!" I heard an unfamiliar yell and see a giant man taking out the monsters.

"Whoa." I could only stare at him wide-eyed. The man was not only big, but he looked very strong too. The weapon he decided to use was a giant warhammer, which shook the ground every time he swung and hit the ground.

I ready up again and start attacking the monster that was in front of me with many slashes before it burst. Alice was behind me taking out another Little Nepent. The big man was off taking out all the others.

Before long, we had finished off all the monsters that had swarmed us. "Whew, that was a tough battle." I said, wiping my forehead from sweat that wasn't there.

"If it wasn't for him, we probably wouldn't have made it you know." Alice said flatly. "Before anything else though, you really should heal up. If you don't heal now, we could be swarmed again and overwhelmed."

"Eheh, I um, I kinda forgot to get potions for myself." I said apologetically with my hand behind my head. Alice came up to me flicked my forehead.

It's not far from the truth to say that I was a little surprised, but she took out a healing potion and gave it to me. "Next time, I might not be there for you. Next time, remember to get some healing potions." Could it be? She's concerned about me?

While Alice was healing me, the big guy came over to us and started talking before I had a chance to bug Alice. "You two lovers?" Straight to the point huh? In the next second, Alice had given him one of her newly trademarked Ice Looks. At least it's not directed towards me now. "Whoa, it's a legit question." The man started defending himself.

"So what's your name dude?"

"My name's Dino. You?"

"I'm Slasher, and this is Alice." I say, gesturing to myself and Alice respectively.

"Nice to meet you." He says, holding out his hand. I grasp his hand and shake. "I would like to join your party." Oh wow, that was unexpected.

I smile, "Well then, Dino, welcome to the Santa Rosa Survivors." I said, coming up with the name on the spot.

"What a stupid name." Alice said under her breath.

"Thank you for welcoming me. And as a thank you present, I will give you this." Dino had taken out his menu and pressed an item. After a couple seconds, it appeared in front of me. My eyes widened a bit.

"Isn't this the quest item?" Dino nodded. "Wow, thank you! Now, back to the village." I say quietly enough so as not to alert any more enemies.

**One Month Later**

**Torvana**

It has been a month since this Death Game has started. There have been two thousand casualties since then. I don't know if it's a good thing I'm still alive or not, but I will keep fighting alongside Alice and Dino, I will do my best to protect my friends.

In the month that has passed, Alice and I raised our levels up to 10, while Dino was raised up to level 12. We were now in the town called Torvana, which, from the rumours I've heard, is the town that's closest to the boss room. There was a meeting to be held today to plan out the boss fight. As this was the first boss, we had to be careful not to underestimate it.

As we took seats in the amphitheatre, I looked around and noticed there were a few people I had seen in the Starting City Announcement, namely, the black haired boy. Though there was no sign of the red haired man anywhere.

I was about to get up and see if the boy knew anything, but a man appeared on the stage down below. He appeared to be about the same age as me. "Good afternoon. I am Diabel. I have brought everyone together for one reason, and that reason is this floor's boss. He is Illfang the Kobold Lord. Today, we found him at the top of the tower." Diabel points towards the large menacing tower a little ways away.

"To defeat the boss, we all need to work together. So I want everyone in parties of six." As he says this, I remember, our party is only three…that's definitely a smaller number than what he asked. I look to the other two while Diabel is still talking. "We need at least three more members to form a better party. Alice looks at me and I feel a little discomfort at the stare while Dino is trying to get the attention of someone else.

The next second, another big man comes up to us because Dino was motioning him. "Hello there Egil." Dino said, holding his hand out for a shake. The other man takes his hand in a tight grip.

"Dino, long time no see. I noticed that you had joined a party." Egil had greeted Dino.

Dino turned toward us and started explaining Egil. "Egil and I have been friends since way back. He has a café opened up in my hometown. Every night I would go there to hang out with him and just talk about random stuff."

"Nice to meet you Egil." I said, holding out my hand to the big man.

"Nice to meet you." Alice said almost whispering. It seems she doesn't do very well with other people.

Egil grasped my hand. "It's quite unusual to see a foreigner here, but then I shouldn't be one to talk" Laughed Egil.

We all had a laugh, I looked over to the black haired boy again to see if he decided to try and join a group. He was sitting with one other person, a female by the looks of it. It wasn't long before Diabel began speaking again.

"Now, to battle this boss," before he could finish someone started to interrupt him.

"Hey, before you go on, I believe we should address something to all the beta testers here!" Huh, does this guy have a thing against beta testers? "Before we go on, you should give all the Col you received and any good loot to us, instead of keeping it all for yourself! It's only fair, seeing as you left us at the beginning of the game to get all the good hunting spots to yourselves!" I could see Dino tense slightly as this guy was talking.

"Hey Dino, what's wrong?" The guy kept talking, but I stopped paying attention to him when he said that the beta testers should hand over everything.

"If you should know, I am a beta tester. But I didn't leave anyone behind, in fact, I helped you guys." I can see the trouble in his eyes.

"That is right, you helped us, so you don't need to worry about guys like him, no matter what, you have us. Our party, no, our friendship." I reassured him. Egil had been listening to us talking. He decided to actually confront the guy who was blaming the testers for everyone that had died in this past month.

"You, what's your name? Never mind, would you mind telling us why you want all the testers to give away their items and Col?" Egil can play the intimidation card pretty well.

The guy stood there, shocked. "I am Kibaou, and you heard what I said, they should give that stuff away because they left us behind, they took all the easy quests and good hunting spots."

"Did you not get this?" Egil held up a book. "It was passed out when you first bought something at a store. It is the players handbook, a booklet of information gathered by the Testers about all the spawn points, quests and some stuff about the boss as well. So before you go and try to bully them into giving you stuff, I suggest reading that first." Egil was able to keep a calm air about him as he spoke. That certainly shut Kibaou up. After his speech, both him and Kibaou sat down and let Diabel continue.

"Alright, now the boss is holed up in the top room of this floor." He said, pointing towards that big, black, pillar thing. "Its name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. It has four health bars and carries an axe and a buckler. Guarded by Ruin Kobold Sentinels, we will need two teams to keep them off of the main attackers. Teams A, B, and C will attack the boss, and teams D and E will hold of the Sentinels. It will be three full teams of six and whoever is left will be teams D and E. Alright?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "The attack will be tomorrow at noon, we will need everyone's help for this, so please be there. Tonight, we have a feast, or what counts as a feast here in this world, and rest up." Everyone cheered and got up to go back to town.

"It seems tomorrow will be a long day." Dino contemplated.

"Sure, but think of all the experience." Alice said. It seems I have started to change her.

"Just be careful you guys, I don't want to lose anyone tomorrow. Now let's get some rest." I said, heading out to the inn.


	4. Chapter 4: Illfang - The Kolbold Lord

**Disclamer: I do not own Sword Art Online or its characters. I only own the fan made characters Slasher, Alice and Dino, that is all.**

A/N: Hey guys, welcome to chapter four of The Adventures of John Smith. I know I said last time to not expect another chapter soon, but I still think a few months is still too long, so, read this, and keep on hoping I know what to write next.

-Thrasher

… … … …

**Chapter Four**

**Torvana**

The next day, we all met up in the town square after getting essential supplies, I don't want Alice mad at me again so I get extra supplies…just in case. Also, I'd rather not die before we even beat the first boss.

"Hey Slasher, there you are. Are you finally done?" Dino called out to me. Evidently, I am the last to arrive. It was just before noon, so the whole group (that's including everyone else who was at the meeting yesterday) were in the town square.

"Yeah, sorry it took so long; I wanted to get extra stuff so one of us won't hurt me." I said, motioning to Alice. Within a second, I felt a tap on my head. It wasn't really a surprise who it was; I knew she would do this if I teased her more. "Anyway, I got us extra potions and stuff. You know, for a game that doesn't have magic, I find it weird that it has potions…it could just be me though."

Before anyone could reply to me, Diabel stepped up and motioned for us to go. "Alright you guys, it's noon, it's time to head off!"

**30 minutes later**

"Hey, do you think we should talk about our strategy?" Alice asked me. Dino was obviously interested to hear what our strategy would be.

"Ok, here is what we're going to do. Alice, since we're taking out the Sentinels that spawn with Illfang, you and I will be doing the Switch like we've been doing this whole time. Dino," I said, motioning to him "you will just smash them into a pulp, like, uh, like you always do." Not knowing what else he could do. Alice chuckled at that. I don't know if it's good or not, she's usually so serious. I don't know, it kinda made me nervous. I wasn't the only one to notice her laugh, Dino looked dumbfounded as well. Alice stopped laughing and looked kind of embarrassed.

"What? I laugh too you know." She had a blush on her face. This made us even more dumbstruck.

Dino and I looked at each other. "That did not just happen. Did it?" Alice was blushing even darker. It wasn't much longer until we reached the entrance of the dungeon.

"Alright everyone, don't get separated! This dungeon is a maze!" Diabel was saying.

Being the joker I am, I couldn't stop myself from saying "So you scouted this dungeon out? I don't know about anyone else, but that's pretty amazing." Out of that I got a few giggles. Even more giggles out of Alice.

"Very funny, Slasher, was it?" Diabel didn't look very impressed. "Now, just remember, don't get separated. Once we get to the boss room, we go with the plan, no deviations. Got it?" Everyone yelled in agreement.

**2 hours later**

**Outside the Boss Room**

After traversing the dungeon, we finally made it to the big doors. This was it; this was our first boss room. Dino had the biggest smile on his face. Alice had a look of grim determination on hers. That left me wondering how my face looked. "Hey Slasher, don't look so worried there." Well, Dino just answered my question. "This'll go fine; you don't have to worry about a thing." He said after a hard slap on the back.

"I guess so. Hey, when we make it through, drinks are on you ok man?" I said, perking up a little bit. We both laughed to try and wash away the nervousness.

"Men, always thinking about the drink." Alice said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright everybody, it's time. Just remember, stick to the plan. Teams A, B, and C will attack Illfang, and teams D, E, and F will keep the sentinels off us. Now, let's go!" Diabel had one last thing to say before the fight.

Everybody cheered in agreement while Diabel had opened the door. We all ran into the room. At first it didn't seem like there was anything in here, but when we got to the middle, the whole place lit up. At the end of the room was Illfang, the Kobold Lord. It roared at us, warning us of the coming attack. "Commence attack!"

URA! Shouting out a warcry from an old anime I watched with my dad as it came out, I charged ahead at the Sentinels. I tell you, they're pretty easy enemies for a boss fight. Of course, we weren't fighting the boss itself, which was left to the other teams. Alice and I took down 3 Sentinels within the first 5 minutes. Dino, as we expected, could hold his own even against five Sentinels.

"Hey look! It's reached the point where it switches styles!" I turned to look as Alice kept going at another Sentinel. I saw Diabel stop the others from attacking the boss, he had a smirk on his face.

"Oh that idiot." I heard Dino mumble. "He can't possibly be going for that."

I turn to Dino and tried to ask him get what, but I saw his face change from battle ready to shock. I turn to look back at the scene and notice Diabel flying across the room. "Dino, keep the Sentinels off us, we'll go try and help Diabel!"

"Got'cha!" Dino yelled as he swung his hammer. He hit three Sentinels when he swung in a wide arc. Well, he can take care of himself, now we need to get to Diabel.

"It's a good thing Dino's as strong as he is, or I wouldn't have left him with the Sentinels." I mumble to myself. I notice Alice looking at me. "I wouldn't intentionally danger a friend." I try to reassure myself.

"Are you sure you can keep this party in check?" Alice started questioning me. I can see a look of suspicion.

"As long as you're here with me, I think I can keep us all alive." I declared in a quiet voice. "Just as long as we can keep being a party, we can keep being al-" I tried to finish my sentence, but I heard something that made my blood run cold. I look back in horror and see Dino on the ground with Illfang in the end of the attack pose. My eyes widened, I lost my balance, I couldn't see clearly. "No. No. No!" The events that happened after were a blur, I couldn't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember the black haired boy next to me as the four of us attacked and defeated Illfang.

"Dino. Dino, are you alright?" After the battle, we got to Dino. Diabel had already died, we couldn't do anything for him, as he had refused all help. But we noticed Dino didn't shatter out of existence. "I'm sorry Dino, I didn't think this would happen. I didn't think that Illfang would target you." I started apologizing to Dino. I started getting tears in my eyes, "I don't want anything to happen to this party. Not to Alice, not to you, and not to anyone else that will be affiliated with us." The tears started streaming down my face.

With a strained voice, Dino tried reassuring me. "It's fine Slasher, there's no way we could have stopped this. Listen, don't stop trying to clear this game. We need as many people on the front lines as we can. As you said, as long as we're together, we can conquer anything." Dino was struggling to get up.

"Dino, you should stay down for now, and have this." I handed him a particularly strong healing potion. He took it and drained it in one gulp. "Now, just lay down and relax, you should start feeling the effect of the potion in a few minutes."

The black haired swordsman appeared by my side. "It's a good thing he survived, but we lost a great man today. My name is Kirito, I wish I could meet you in a better time than now, but as we probably won't meet again for a while, I figured this would be the best time."

"Slasher, my friend on the ground is Dino, and this woman here is Alice." I said, introducing my party. Alice had kept quiet this whole time but acknowledged when I introduced her.

"Whoa, I feel much better now." Dino shot upright. Every one cheered when he recovered.

"Everyone, shut up!" Oh man, not him again. "Diabel died today, why are you cheering!?" Kibaou had started speaking up. "He knew what the bosses next attacks would be, and he left him to die!" He pointed to Kirito and I respectively. "What are you guys?! Beta testers? Cheaters?!"

"Hey now, calm down. Let's talk when our heads are a bit cooler than they are now." Egil tried to diffuse the situation.

"No, they knew what was going to happen, they knew what the monsters next attack would be. But they kept it to themselves. You guys are worse than cheaters, you're beaters!" I heard the crowd agreeing with this guy. All of a sudden I hear Kirito start laughing.

"It's true, we are Beaters. And we don't want you to mix us in with those newbs the testers. We know everything about this game. We made it further than any of the other testers. We know what will happen in the other levels." While Kirito was speaking, he was manipulating his menu. He appeared to be putting on a cloak. I see, so he must've gotten the last attack bonus. I was wondering who got it. "If you want to live, you shouldn't be anywhere near us, we don't care if you get left behind." Kirito finished putting on his cloak and started leaving for the door.

Everyone else was stunned, no one could speak. I decided that I should follow him and ask him a few questions. "Alice, listen, I need you to stay here with Dino for a second, I wanna question our new friend about something." Alice nodded grimly. I started catching up to Kirito.

"Didn't you hear what I said? I said you should leave me alone, or else you will die." Kirito said calmly.

"You said that about me too. Why?"

"I figured they'd just tear you apart if I didn't help you."

"Well, I think you just created problems for both of us. I don't mind, but it will be harder for my party to get around." I started laughing. "As long as I know you're a good guy, I can trust you, my whole party can."

"That's good to know, but I'd still keep my distance from me." Kirito tried to keep his distance between us.

"Well, if you ever need a favour, I owe you one. I should return to my party." I bid him farewell and started walking back to Dino and Alice. I noticed his partner going up to follow him after she noticed I finished talking to him.

Dino was standing now, and talking with Egil. "Oh, he's back. So, is everything alright?" Dino questioned.

"Everything's fine my friend, how are you?" I worried that he wouldn't be fine.

"As great as I can be. That potion works wonders, where'd you get it?"

Well, I did some extra quests while you guys were asleep." I said sheepishly. Alice's expression changed, she now looked as though she was both jealous and worried. "I'm fine Alice, I still here you know? But I was thinking of asking you to help heal me after I came back." I started joking around again. Yet again, she gave me an icy look. She started walking up to me and gave a good smack to the head. "Yeah, I think I might've gone too far with that one, sorry." I apologized. Dino and Egil started laughing.

"So, should we start heading out? I want to see the new level." Alice had piped in her request. I started laughing again.

"Alright you guys, let's get a move on. Level two, I hope you're ready, The San Rose Survivors will conquer you too!" I shouted gleefully.

"That's still a stupid name." Alice mumbled.


	5. Mini Chapter 1: After the Boss

**I do not own SAO or any of its characters. I only own my own fanmade characters Slasher, Alice and Dino.**

A/N: Hey guys, I will be doing a mini chapter every once in a while as a way of explaining my previous mistakes. This one was based on the name of the party Santa Rosa Survivors. So, just read and enjoy, I will start chapter 5 pretty soon.

-Thrasher

**After the Boss**

"So, are we the San Rose Survivors, or the Santa Rosa Survivors?" Alice asked me.

"Well, it, um, interchanges I guess. I usually don't remember stuff like this. Anyway, shouldn't we find a place to stay for the night? More specifically, a really nice place so Dino can rest up?" I tried to change the subject to avoid my mislabelling of the party.

"Well, you know, with how you called us the first time and the second time, there could be confusion amongst us." Alice had a sly smile on her face. Ah damn, now I know what she was doing. "You know, I propose a new name for us. I say we call us "Alice and her Wonder creatures." Yup, she's doing exactly what I do, she's poking fun at me.

"Well, we can, but is there anyone who could get that reference?" I said, quite a bit more serious then I wanted to.

"I don't even think your name is even a reference." Alice was skeptical.

"Um, guys, we're reaching the outer edge of town." Dino said from quite a ways away. "Can you please stop having a lover's quarrel and start paying attention?" Dino had a wide grin on his face.

Before I could say anything, Alice had appeared beside Dino, with a nice shade of red on her face, and smacked him quite hard. "It's a good thing we're within the town limits; otherwise I think that would have taken a good chunk of your life bar my friend." We kept talking all the way back to the centre of town, and checked into an inn.

**Story continued in Chapter 5: Land of the Long Day**


	6. Chapter 5: Land of the Long Day

** Disclaimer, I do not own Sword Art Online or any of its characters. I only own my own characters Slasher, Alice and Dino**

A/N: Wow, this chapter got finished quite quickly, the 17th of May to be exact. That's only a few days after Chapter Four came out. Not bad, this chapter may lack a bit, and maybe be all over the place, but it'll work. Anyway, enjoy, and if you don't, feel free to leave a reason why.

-Thrasher

**2 months after Illfang**

**Ikaluit: Town of the Fish**

We've been farming pretty much every day that we've been here. There were a few days where we just had a day off and just spent the day in town. Of course, Kibaou's soldiers sure harassed us whenever we did that, and even if we didn't, with my status as a Beater, we still got harassed quite a bit. Ah, but I digress, it's been only two months after the first floor boss, "Illfang: The Kobold Lord" was defeated, but we have been able to clear the first four floors quite easily. To my surprise, the fifth floor seemed almost familiar to me.

It was quite a flat landscape, but there were hills. No trees, small shrubs, monsters mainly adapted for a winter fight. Yeah, this seems almost like a place in my home country. Argh, I can't remember the name of it. Anyway, as I was saying, items were scarce, but the drops, whenever there were any, were pretty good.

As it was winter, we decided to have one of the NPC's create some winter armour for us. And so-

"Hey, how long are we going to stay in one place for?" Alice had asked, impatiently.

Feeling annoyed, I replied "For a little while longer, now shut up, I'm trying to monologue."

"For who? And why? You know, if we skimp out on training again, The Army will not like it."

"Well, one; for myself, two; why not? And three; they don't like us anyway, remember?" I explained to Alice.

"Well, I don't want them to dislike us anymore, I'm pretty sure that we'll soon be complete outcasts on the front lines."

"I see your point. Ok then, let's get outta here."

**2 days later**

**The Fields of Helluland**

"Why are we going out of our way to do this quest?" Alice again? Man, I thought she would have liked this floor, it matches her personality.

"Well, I'm pretty sure this place will have a pretty good reward. Maybe some good daggers for you. Maybe some Col so we can get some pretty good weapons. Who knows? We'll be rewarded, and we get experience, I know that's two of the three things that you care about." I said, a grin forming on my face.

"And what, by chance, is the last one?"

"Why, me of course!" I shouted with triumph. And, right after, as usual, I fall face forward into the ground. "Yeah, I deserved that one. Sorry, sorry." I said apologetically. I heard snickering coming from Dino. "Oh hey, what's that over there?" I said, pointing ahead. It wasn't to get the attention off me, I actually saw a small building up ahead.

"A building? Out here? Suspicious. Let's investigate, shall we?" Dino said with a grin. I looked to him with a smile on my face and nodded. We started running towards the building, could this be what we were searching for? Could this be the building be the key to finding something called "softstone."

Once we got to the building, we noted the name of the building, "Nanisivik." I decided to speak up "Well, this is the building that we needed. Whatever we need should be in there." I opened the door into the, hopeful, warmer building. "It's not much warmer in here is it?"

"It's quite nice actually." Yup, the Princess of Ice has found her home. I noticed no one was in here. Weird, there should have been someone here to greet us and tell us how to get the item we need. "Well, so much for this quest, eh Dino?" Alice had lightly elbowed Dino, while he snickered.

"You guys are getting quite close, aren't you?" I said with a hint of jealousy. Oh wow, I never knew that I could get jealous. Hopefully they didn't catch on, though I think that they may have noticed, I will soon find out.

"Someone's jealous." Knew it. I really should try to keep my unwanted emotions in check. "Don't worry Slasher, there's no feelings I have for Dino. He's too gruff." Well, that's good, I guess. Well, really good.

"Ouch." Dino had a hurt look on his face. I started laughing again. "Could you at least feign interest?" I started laughing even harder. Alice has been getting better at talking to people, but she still really only talked to Dino or I most of the time.

"Anyway, we should rest here and get something to eat, we have been walking a few hours." I suggested. I brought up my menu and gotten a few local pieces of bread, I think they called it "Palaugaaq". Enough for each of us, Alice, Dino and I. So far, these pieces of bread are, so far, the best bread I've had in the game. "Man, this stuff is good. I'm kind of surprised that this game can make pretty good food."

Dino nodded his head in agreement. "I know right? I thought the only good food the NPC's gave you would be in high class places, we got this cheap from one of the smaller stores too."

Alice pretty much kept silent when eating, she made a small sound, I think it was in agreement with what I said. "Mmph, mmm, mmph." She tried speaking.

"Please Alice, will you swallow your food first?" Dino asked, a bit annoyed. I started snickering at his, well not disgust, you know, I don't think I know the word for it. But I digress, his annoyance made me laugh.

"Dino, man, just don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure Alice doesn't really like being told what to do." I advised him.

"Mmmhmm." Alice nodded in agreement.

"It still bothers me." Dino grumbled.

**40 minutes later**

It wasn't all that long until the NPC of the house came back. "Ah, I didn't know travellers would be here tonight." We all stood and apologized for intruding. "Oh no, don't worry about it. Hold on one second, I have to give you something to deliver to the elder back in town." The old NPC had shuffled around his cabin. "Ah, here it is. I'm sure this is what the town elder wanted. Now, if you young ones want to stay the night, I know it's quite late." He offered.

"Oh no, it's fine thank you." I properly declined. "I wouldn't want to impose on you after barging in here."

Alice leaned a bit closer to me and whispered in my ear. "It is late you know Slasher? I wouldn't mind getting a bit of sleep before we leave." Well, I guess. I decided to check the time to actually see how late it is.

To my surprise, it was quite late, 11:29 at night. "Hmm, it is quite late, I guess we should stay here. Again, I'm sorry for imposing longer than we should have."

It's fine, young travellers like you need your rest as well." He brought out some futons, one for each of us. "I bid you young travellers good night."

We all bid him good night. "Well, I guess we should be off to bed as well you guys. We've got an early day tomorrow." I made sure the other two were in bed before I tucked myself in. I didn't notice until after I lay down, Alice and I were pretty much beside each other. Oh great, I think I'll be too nervous to sleep now, oh well, it should only be for the night…right?

**The next day**

"Hey Slasher, you look quite tired. Didn't you sleep well?" Dino asked me the next morning.

"Oh yeah, like a baby." I lied. Truth is, I had only gotten to sleep an hour ago. "Anyway, we should go, it's time to get this "Softstone" back to the elder back in "Ikaluit," and hopefully collect a reward."

"Wow, you sound like a mercenary." Alice said flatly.

"Well, when you put it that way, it kind of makes me sounds like a bad guy." I pouted. Weird, I've never pouted before. I guess this is the quest of feelings. Or, the quest of new discoveries. Or, well, you get the idea.

Alice only had a grin on her face as we all walked back to town. Then it hit me. "-but beware, there may be an enemy out on the fields, an enemy that may be your downfall." On our way to the old cabin, we had thought we saw something, something big, something powerful. In the end though, we all agreed that it was nothing.

It wasn't until they were halfway to the town when we saw something. It looked to be a human, but it had a cursor above its head. A red one. "Oh, this is not going to be good." I muttered to myself. It said something, I knew it wasn't Japanese or English, it was some other language. I think it went along the lines of kinaugavit. "Alright, I don't know what that means, but you have a red cursor above your head, and that usually means you did something. I will not put my friends lives in danger!" I warned the being. It said something else, I think it was taima. It was speaking some language that I didn't understand. I was quite surprised this game had some other language in it, props to Kayaba Akihiko for doing something unexpected.

Alice nudged my shoulder "I think we should arm ourselves now." She said calmly, taking out her daggers. I nodded and motioned to Dino to take his out as well. I took out my katana, "The Blade of Theron."

It said one last thing before it started changing. What it said was kaatunga. I'm pretty sure I know what that means right now as it's changing into a giant "Arctic Bear". Well, I guess we have no choice but to fight then. "So, you were a monster after all. I think a sub boss by the looks of it. Alright you guys, it's time to fight!" The beast let out a horrid sound and started charging.

We all started running towards this sub boss (its name seems to be Iyirait, the Shapeshifter). The first of us to reach it was Dino. He hit it with an upswing and then brought his hammer down in a downswing. He finished off his attack with a, well, I guess it's not a sword skill, but a hammer skill. It was a three hit combo, the "Hammer of Justice" skill. Because his build was a tank, he had to take an extra time to recover and got hit square in the chest. I tell you, it took almost every ounce in my body not to laugh at him as he was flying past me.

The next to reach it was Alice. As she was a speed fighter, the monster couldn't even touch her. As there were no two handed dagger skills, she didn't use her skills too much. Before I knew it, she appeared right next to me. "Switch." I was a bit surprised but then remembered we are in a battle.

"Oh. Right." I took off and hit it a few times across the chest. I narrowly ducked a swipe from its paw and activated my 4 combo attack Blitzkrieg. I stunned it with the attack and that gave me enough time to recover and head back to the party. "Ok, Dino, it's yo-" Before I could finish my sentence, it started changing again. Its body started shrinking. Mind you, it was a pretty big bear, bigger than a usual bear. So it became a pretty darn big wolf. It was at least a six foot tall wolf, so obviously quite a big wolf. "Ok then, Dino, you're up!"

Dino was still a bit damaged from the first hit. Can't blame him really, that was a pretty big hit. But now, it was a great big dog, I don't know if that'll change how fast it is. Dino swung his hammer down on it…or, tried to anyway. The monster evaded with a speed that could rival even "The Flash." Oh great, this just became harder. "Alice! Let's go help him! Three of us should be able to take it down!" Alice nodded her agreement.

That was one of the longer fights we've had in this game, but through effort and luck, we managed to take down the shapeshifter. Alice had finally used a sword skill, the one handed dagger skill "Slip Stream Strike." I used "Blitzkrieg" again and Dino had used "Hammer of Justice." Together, we had taken it down to the last half of the last bar of its health. After we finished our attacks, it used our downtime to change again. It finally changed into a humanoid figure. Seven and a half feet tall, it seemed pretty strong too. "Ah man, this just does not make my day better. Guys, distract it for a second, if it knows what I'm about to do, it will attack me!" The other two had smiles on their faces as they sped off ahead to keep that thing busy.

I was focusing on my new sword skill, the six hit combo "The Daybreaker." I could feel the energy start forming in my body. "Almost ready you guys! Out of the way, now!" I gripped my katana tight in my left hand and unleashed hell on the beast. It took the full brunt of five of my strikes, with the last strike finally bringing it over the edge. It started falling, but as with everything else in this world, it just stops awkwardly and then disintegrates. "You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to that." I said, pointing to where the monster was just a second before.

"Well, as long as it doesn't happen to one of us eh?" Dino seemed a bit jovial, but he did have a good point, I'm glad it wasn't one of us.

**Sometime later**

"Ah, good to see you young ones back safely. Have you got what I needed?" The elder asked. I took the softstone out of my inventory and handed it to him. "Ah yes, perfect. Come back tomorrow and I shall have something for you."

"Umm, ok. I guess. Alright you guys, let's get outta here for now." I said to the others. Bleep bloop. Oh, what's that? I think I just got a message.

_Santa Rosa_

_I have an urgent message for you guys, we have found the boss room. We have another meeting tomorrow at noon._

_Egil_

Interesting, I guess we might have to postpone getting our reward for a bit. "You guys, you want to get rid of our hides and get some extra Col?" The others nodded in agreement. "Alright, I have something to tell you guys on the way."

**Story will resume in Chapter 6: Sedna, The Goddess of the Sea**


	7. Chapter 6: Sedna: The Goddess of the Sea

"Alright, I have something to tell you guys on the way." Wait, that sounds too serious…maybe I shouldn't be like this. I look back to the others and see very curious faces. Crap. I think I might've gotten myself into a corner. "It's not something serious; Egil has informed me that they have found the next boss." I tried to explain.

They don't seem so convinced. "Eh, is that it? There's nothing more? You're not Kayaba Akihiko?" Yup, I seriously gotta learn not to be serious all the time. I sighed.

"Nothing else, I'm just not good at talking, joking, I'm fine, but when it's serious stuff, I may say something I totally don't mean." Well, I guess we can skip ahead from here, the next while is me explaining myself, don't get the wrong idea, but I'm not all that interesting, my name even says so.

**30 Minutes later**

**Nunavik**

**The town closest to the dungeon**

"Ah, Santa Rosa, so good to see you guys here." I heard the sarcastic voice of one of the "Army's" soldiers. "Your reputation precedes you Slasher, you only show up to the ones you're interested in aren't you? You send your party to these meetings but don't have the guts to come to one yourself." Seems like another one that doesn't like me.

"Well, you know how it goes, I like stuff that interests me." As bad as this sounds, it's actually quite true. Although, I usually don't go to these things, mostly because I don't remember when they are, I came to this one because this floor interests me.

"Heimdall, is there anyone else out there?" I hear a voice call from inside.

"Yes ma'am, the other Beater and his party." Just the introduction I'd expect.

"Well? You going to invite them in?" The voice said sternly.

"Y-yes ma'am!" I smirked and started going in. I felt the man stop me. "Just remember Beater, you aren't the ones in charge here." Heimdall growled.

My grin grew wider. "It seems I'm not the only one that's not in charge, my friend." I taunt.

**Inside**

"It seems that the boss of this floor is called Sedna, The Goddess of the Sea. She mainly uses a-" while one of Kibaou's commanders was talking about the boss, I looked around the room to see who would take part in this battle. I saw a few familiar faces, Kirito, Egil, Klein, and I saw some new faces. Must be new recruits in the Army. If they're here, they should be a good high level right? "Now, this boss will have her minions, the "Children of the North" with her as well. Two teams will keep an eye on the mob and the rest of us will form four teams to take out Sedna. Is everyone clear?" Everyone yelled in agreement. "Alright, we meet tomorrow in the town square. Dismissed!"

As everyone was leaving, I noticed one of the new people lingering around. Hmm, maybe waiting to talk to someone about the boss. Then she saw me and started heading towards me. Considering I wasn't expecting this, I was quite shocked. "So you're the leader of the party Santa Rosa. I only know one person who would come up with a stupid name like that." No way. It couldn't be her could it? "So, Mr. Slasher, would you mind if we had a duel?" Yeah, I only know one person that would be this headstrong.

"You're on." I can't not accept a good challenge, and if she's challenging me, she must have a high level, otherwise, she wouldn't be here. Of course, there were more pressing things that should happen first. "But, we're going to have to hold off on this until after this boss fight."

"Oh fine, but remember, Slasher, you owe me a duel." She said with a grin.

"Yeah, I will, umm…" I couldn't believe I forgot to ask for her name.

"It's Mikaila…in this world at least." For a split second, she looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole until this world was gone. If I wasn't the attentive (others may say the opposite of me) person I am, I wouldn't have seen her face.

"Alright Mikaila, on the next floor, we will have a duel, just like we used to in the old days!" I declared, quite dramatically really. I had gone the whole nine yards and took a dramatic spin as well. It wasn't long before this awkward silence got to me. I opened my eyes and saw everyone within earshot looking at me, some laughing, some just wondering what was going on.

*Whap* *Whap*

Two whaps? Who could the other one be? I turn around again and see both Alice and Mikaila looking embarrassed. Ah, figures both of them would do that, maybe I shouldn't have been so dramatic with my declaration. I cleared my throat and said sorry.

"Alright, so, shall we get going? I want to get some more hunting in before wrapping up the day." I said. The others agreed to it and we all left the meeting place.

Alright, I guess I should be clear who Mikaila is. Is she some lost lover? A sister perhaps? Or even, cue the dramatic music, a stalker. No, but seriously, she's a co-worker in the company I work for back in the real world. She and I had many duels, though, not so much with swords and stuff. It was usually stuff like arm wrestling, video game fights. Don't get me wrong, she's still able to look like a normal girl, even if she can keep up with me in video games, or beat me at arm wrestling. That's kinda sad, I know, but it's the truth. She's like the older sister I never had.

We were walking out in the fields for a while, just talking and battling whenever a monster got to us. My group and Mikaila went our separate ways after a while, us heading for somewhere to eat, her to get to an inn.

At the store, I decided to ask the store clerk what the words we hear yesterday meant. "Well, 'kinaugavit' means 'who are you?' While 'taima' means 'stop.' Lastly, 'kaatunga' means 'I'm hungry." That was a pretty serious battle then. I involuntarily shuddered.

**The next day**

**Outside the dungeon**

"Alright, so everyone here knows the plan. I expect everyone to keep with it, and we'll be on the next floor in no time. Everybody ready?" Everyone cheered and we started to march into the dungeon.

To reflect the mobs on the outside, the dungeon mobs were mostly the 'Arctic Bear' and 'Frozen Wolf.' There might be the occasional 'Frenzy Raven,' but they were more rare. As with the last few floors, we've been able to get to the boss room quite quickly, this is our record time at 45 minutes. Not bad if I say so myself. Everyone was ready to face the boss, we all took a healing potion before entering the room to get as much of an advantage as possible.

The people in the front of the group opened the doors, after that, we all cautiously crept into the room. We had done this four times before, each time getting more cautious. The room this time was quite a drastic difference between the earlier boss' rooms. It had a giant lake in the middle that took up most of the area. The shore had snow all over it, quite thick snow too, it didn't seem like it would be easy to walk on.

"Hey, look at the lake, something's surfacing!" I heard someone yell. Everyone turned their heads simultaneously. Had this not been a very serious moment, I probably would have lost my head laughing.

Something had started rising in the middle of the lake. After a few seconds, we saw that it looked like a human girls head. Initially, I thought "why there was a girl in the boss room?" and then it hit me. This was the boss. This was Sedna – The Goddess of the Sea.

The cursor appeared, telling everyone that she wasn't a player, but the boss. After fully emerging from the lake, she let out an inhuman scream and the lake instantly froze over. On the other side of the shore, bodies began to rise, seemingly created from the snow. The beings themselves seemed to be smaller than the average human, and skinnier than even the skinniest model in Milan. They're bodies seemed to be a pale blue colour, as if they have been in the cold for a long time. They had five long nails on each hand, which seemed to be their only weapon.

Sedna raised her right hand, which seemed to be a signal for the 'Children' to start attacking. Everybody readied up for a long battle. "Everybody attack!" This came from the Divine Dragon Alliance sub-leader who was in charge of the attack.

As usual, my group was put on one of the two clean-up teams, meaning that we were to keep the mobs off the boss group. I didn't mind as these boss battles could go on for a while, which meant that we can rack up more EXP than even the players who took out the boss if this went on long enough.

"Slasher, switch!" I heard Alice call out from ahead of me. She had just finished her Dagger Skill "Slip Stream Strike," and since she was a speed build, her cooldown time for the skills was little to nothing. I rushed ahead and slashed my sword diagonally against the monster. Before it could react, I slashed again across its face. Just before I was going to slash at it again, it clawed me across my body. I was surprised that it took out 5% of my health, which didn't seem like much, but I remembered we had been out farming quite a bit, so it really shouldn't be a surprise that it only took out this much.

I smiled as it tried to claw at me with its other hand, I ducked under its swing and activated my Sword Skill "Blitzkrieg," bringing its health down quite a bit. "Switch!" I yelled out to Alice. As I was still falling back, I just barely saw Alice dashing in to take out the rest of its health. After just a few seconds, I heard the sound of it disappearing after being killed. It wouldn't be long before more spawned, but while there was still enough of a rest period, I looked to see the progress on the boss. It was down on its last bar of health, which wasn't bad because it's only been an hour and a half since we got here.

I counted the amount of people still fighting her and was relieved to see everyone ok. _It seems like we'll make it out without casualties again._ I turned back to our battlefield as another mob spawned. "Alice, I'll go first!" She nodded at me and I ran full speed to the closest one to me. Out of nowhere, I felt the ground shake and the closest 'Child of the North' had been broken into pieces before my eyes. It wasn't long before the dust settled, but I saw the reason why it got completely annihilated. "Thanks a lot Dino, but I had that one!" I started complaining to him.

"Well, I didn't see your name on it my friend!"

"Just go over there and get the ones further away man." I couldn't speak any longer because of the other monsters closing in. I saw Dino smirk.

"Whatever you say boss!" He went off to get the further monsters. Anyway, back to my fight, I had gotten a bit of my health taken out by one of the 'Children.' It wasn't much, but I know if I don't switch with Alice now, she'll probably scold me after the battle for recklessly endangering myself.

"Alice, switch!" As I was moving back, Alice was already on the attack. If anything, I would have to say her fighting style is quite beautiful. No wasted movements, landing a strike every time. It's one of the more perfect fighting styles here in this world.

"Switch!" I move in with the final blow, a straight uppercut with a quick follow-up jab. The 'Child' started to fall back, and, as always, stopped in mid-air for a second before shattering to pieces.

_It seems they're taking their time with this boss. _I look back to the boss fight again and see a lot of the people were trying to stay back. _What's happening now? They should be on the offensive. _I see Kirito alone holding the boss off, so I start heading over to help him. I stopped quickly and said "Alice, stay here and make sure Dino doesn't die!" She nodded and went to keep an eye out for enemies.

I caught up to Kirito. "Thought you could use some help! Let's get this done quickly eh?" I was grinning. He looked over and nodded his head with a grin. We both ran full speed towards 'Sedna,' and raised our swords, his Anneal blade from the first floor quest I had done as well, and my katana (which I have hereby shortened to Theron) 'Theron.'

As Kirito was (obviously) faster than I, he got to the boss first and started attacking, a magnificent uppercut to a quick vertical slash and ending his attack with a Sword Skill called 'Vertical Square.' "Slasher, switch!" I quickly ran in with a diagonal slash as I was running and a downward strike bringing it close to the edge of its health. I ended with the skill 'Quadra Strike,' a four strike combo hitting an x shape first followed by a + shape right after. The boss' health bar reached zero, she started to glow blue and started to get some static effect, and finally shattered to pieces.

Everyone started cheering and we all got a notification that we leveled up. I got the rare boss drop 'Everlasting Ice.' _I think I have a good idea how to use this._ I had a wide grin as I patted Kirito on the back. "Good job my friend! So, drinks are on me tonight?" I tried to get him to come out with my party as he disappears quite quickly after a boss fight.

"I'd love to, but I'm kinda tired right now." He started walking away. _Well, next time I guess._

"Alright then, see you around Kirito." I started walking back to Alice and Dino. "So, shall we go get some drinks?" Alice nodded, and Dino, of course, asked if I would be paying. "Of course I'm paying my friend, I offered." I said with a grin. We all started walking out of the boss room onto the next floor.

**To be continued in Chapter 7: The Fall of the Army**

**A/N: **Aaaaaargh. It's been way to long. I actually started writing this chapter a few weeks ago. But I couldn't think of a good ending for the battle so I haven't been working on it that hard. I still don't think it's all that great. Anyway, if anyone was wondering what the words that the Iyirait spoke in the last chapter (I'm sorry I didn't give a translator's note about it in my author's note last chapter), I have explained it in this chapter. This floor I based off my homeland of Nunavut, Canada. There are many references to Nunavut, the name of the floor itself, the names of the towns, and the field name are references to my homeland. Anyway, this is getting quite long, so I'll end it here, look forward to the next chapter.

-Thrasher


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